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Counterfeit coins are "flooding the market at an astonishing rate," and compromising the investments of collectors, according to the American Numismatic Association (ANA).

"It's a very serious problem and it's really scary," said Rod Gillis, ANA's education director. "With improved technology, the fakes are getting better. It's gotten to the point where even people who deal with coins all the time may not be able to recognize a counterfeit coin right away."

Another veteran coin dealer agrees.

"There's a reliable supply of bogus coins coming from China into the U.S., and it has been getting more authentic-looking over the years," said Brad Karoleff, a veteran coin dealer who owns Coins Plus in Cincinnati. "At first, they were laughable, but as they've become savvier, they've been making counterfeits that look much more like the real thing."
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Coin dealers and pawn shops are also being targeted. Eric Hoolahan, CEO of Bellevue Rare Coins, with several stores around the Seattle area, says criminals are buying these knock-off coins and trying to sell them to stores that may not know how to spot a fake.

"It doesn't cost them much, so they don't need to get top dollar," Hoolahan said. "Even if they get a pawn shop to pay them half the market price, they're doing great."
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William Gibbs, managing editor of Coin World, says some crooks are now putting their fake gold and silver coins into authentic-looking collector coin holders called slabs, complete with bogus bar codes and registration numbers. This makes it look like the coin has been authenticated by a reputable grading service.

"So even if you're ordering a coin online that shows it's in a slab from a reputable grading service, those holders could be fake," said Gibbs said.

The only way to verify the slab is to call the grading company and give them the registration number.
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I wish I could tell you how shocked I was at this. I think most people who visit this site regularly/semi-regularly won't be that shocked. It's amazing to me how many people though are clueless that this is so prevalent, and at how good some of the fakes really are.

Congressmen Alex Mooney (R-WV) criticized the United States Mint for its “disappointing and concerning” lack of awareness or action on the growing problem of high-quality counterfeits of U.S. precious-metals coins entering the country from China and elsewhere.

In a letter dated March 6, Rep. Mooney took the U.S. Mint to task on its perfunctory one-page response to a prior letter that he and Congressman Frank Lucas sent last October asking for information as to whether, and to what extent, the U.S. Mint has taken proactive steps to protect the integrity of America’s minted coins, including reviewing and implementing the anti-counterfeiting measures already put in place by certain foreign government and private mints.

“The U.S. Mint’s response dated November 17, 2017, seemed to suggest a belief that the problem was not significant,” wrote Mooney in his March 6 letter.

“However, the U.S. Secret Service has since briefed my office about the extent of this activity and its frustration with a lack of supportive actions by other agencies, including the U.S. Mint.”

“The matter of counterfeits has been repeatedly raised as a serious issue in the coin industry press… As your team is aware, there have been anti-counterfeiting technologies on the market for some time – and many of these technologies have already been adopted by some of your ‘competitors,’” continued Rep. Mooney.
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As a member of the House Financial Services subcommittee which oversees the U.S. Mint, Congressmen Mooney has been leading a congressional inquiry into the counterfeiting problem, seeking information from federal agencies about the nature and quantity of complaints — and resulting investigations — regarding counterfeit U.S. gold, silver, and platinum coins and what anti-counterfeiting programs, if any, are in place to protect the integrity of U.S. coins minted specifically of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.
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LOL, pawn shops... last year I found myself short of cash and decided to get a short term loan on some of my silver. What a shock when shop after shop wouldn't even discuss it. Many pawn shops, so I was informed, will not buy or make loans on precious metals because of all the counterfeits. One shop tested my 10 oz bar with a magnet before refusing my loan request because it was "magnetic". I tried to explain to them that silver is paramagnetic and does have a weak attraction to magnets (which is what happened during the test) but they wouldn't accept it.

So the corrosive effect of encouraging information spread about the level of counterfeiting to circulate, becomes effective in the same way that few will take high demonination banknotes,
as they have been 'conclusively linked to crime' ( yet ironically issuing worthless paper backed by nothing is not the crime they are linked to ...)

Suddenly the old chestnut 'if you dont hold it, you dont own it' stops working as effectively.

Perhaps my Bullionvault / Goldmoney approach is the better option ?

__________________ if it cant be done with a digger .... it cant be done